Chapter 4 ∣  Intimate?

-Maverick

I wish they would stop treating me like I'm an enemy!

I wish they would stop referring to me as dangerous!

I wish they would stop turning everyone I know against me, especially the only friends I have!

"Tamsin, you need to stay out of this," Rainier still holds the chain tightly. When Zak turns to Tamsin, kneeling she backs away, but he reaches out his right arm and catches her upper arm, holding her near him.

Anger flies through my body, a hate growing toward Zak with each passing day. Every time he decides to intervene, brings me that much closer to ignoring the rules, and truly seeing just how much of a monster everyone is making me out to be.

"One day, you'll understand just how dangerous he is," Zak motions to me, my black rose eyes glowering at how easy it is for him to pin everything on me, "and when that day comes, I hope you aren't just guided blindly by your emotions"

Tamsin's vivid and beautiful blue eyes glance away from Zak, turning her attention on me. She tilts her head to the side, studying me for a moment while she tries to understand what evil they could possibly be talking about.

Tamsin pulls her arm away from Zak, and he willingly lets her go, "I don't see the monster you claim him to be. You're all just terrible!" She lashes out, growling at both Zak and then Rainier, challenging the very hunters that specifically watch over our coven, just because they are aligned through my mother.

What my mother saw in Zak and Rainier...

...I think I'll never understand.

She pokes Zak in the stomach, hissing, "You're all turning him into what you fear he is. One day, you'll regret it, as you are making an enemy out of him."

"He attacked a human," Rainier sighs in irritation, knowing that reasoning with a child will be an endless argument.

"He protected me," she fires back, skipping her steps toward me and rushing past Zak, "yes, I have the right to feed and after all, I'm just a child, and she hurt me, so Maverick was looking out for me. That isn't wrong."

"A child that needs to be taught her place," Zak walks toward Tamsin as she skirts around Rainier and stands near my side, "just like he will learn his. You shouldn't even be out here without your parents, especially with that rogue attack. You are a future assassin, someone who should be neither seen, nor heard, yet you walk out and decide to take what could easily have been provided for you. Your position within the coven is to stay within the coven walls, you do no one any good being out here—along."

For a hunter, he knows way more about how the vampire society works than he should. Rainier's chain continues to keep my arms pinned at my sides, and if I dare to even draw my focus on the blood that had fallen to the ground in my surprise, both will see that as an act of aggression and probably justify that to end my life.

Oh, wouldn't my father just love that?

Instead, I just wait, releasing my tension and letting my eyes revert to their hazel blue, Tamsin's side next to mine. I can faintly smell the remnants of the blueberry shampoo she had used, trying to use that to calm my nerves as these two only seem to be striking and testing my last one.

Zak's white irises look up from the two of us, flickering them to Rainier briefly. Without a single word, he nods his head, the chain that is wrapped tightly around my body loosens, Rainier letting it drop before recoiling it to his side, twisting it until he places it behind his back and out of sight.

With my new-found freedom, I move my arms, rubbing where the silver had been resting against my hoodie.

"Maverick," Zak's voice is stern, his eyes finding mine as I raise my head to meet his gaze.

I huff out, "What?"

"Take Tamsin and go home," he looks over my head and then back at my face, "the two of you are done for the night."

Tamsin tugs on the hoodie sleeve when I don't move, staring at him with the same anger I feel toward my father, except the only difference, we aren't bound my blood. If Zak really wanted to, he could kill me, and no one would bat an eye because he was just doing his job. If my father did that, my mother would more than likely kill him.

I turn on my heels, taking to the sidewalk with Tamsin just behind me. I can hear Rainier whisper to Zak, "At least he'll be gone for a while, maybe Orion will just keep him."

"One could only hope," Zak replies, "after all, Orion had the biggest hatred toward purebloods who wanted nothing but power. I wonder if his ideals remain the same, even though the treaty was signed. Regardless, if he can control Maverick, it would make all our lives easier."

I'm not someone's to control.

I'm my own person and I won't let anyone take away what makes me, me. I'll return, stronger than ever and if I must act the part of the perfect son, for the time being, I will.

I shake my head, trying to get their words out of my head, but they keep running through my mind, clouding out the words Tamsin is shouting behind me until she finally breaks through my barrier.

Maverick?

I'm sorry, Tamsin.

Don't listen to them, they just want to break and hurt you. I know, you'd never hurt anyone, not without a very good reason. You were watching out for me tonight, and I see that as being loyal to the coven.

It's hard...ignoring them isn't something that comes naturally.

I'll help you, after all, I must avoid strong emotions while dematerialized, I will show you how to let go of the hate toward them.

It won't be soon enough...

When you get back—I promise!

If I come back...

I sigh, knowing if I can't control my blood magic, it's a red flag for my father and a reason for him to keep me away from the coven. I'm not evil, but he's sure pushing me in that direction.

I can see the mansion rising just around the corner, turning hard as I stop abruptly in the backyard. The half-moon is now high in the sky, everyone will be up and wondering where we are. Once again, I will be the one yelled at for convincing Tamsin to sneak away with me into the city for a bit of fun.

"Hey," Tamsin touches my shoulder, our two small forms hiding behind the inner wall to the back door, our eyes meeting. The light shines off her iridescent orbs, her smile taking all the pain away in a second, the way she looks at me like I'm her role model.

She believes in me and that should be enough to drive everything else away. If I end up forced to stay away from the coven, I think it will kill me, not being able to see my friends or my bratty sister for that matter. I still care for Lucette, she just knows how to press my buttons and we end up in a sibling brawl more often then we like.

"I'm sorry, you're just going to get in trouble staying around me," I watch as she fiddles with the ends of her sleeves, taking them into her palms and balling her hands into fists. She crosses her arms in front of her chest as she continues to smile at me, my words not fazing her in the slightest.

"Did you hear me?" I ask, raising a brow.

Tamsin nods and replies, "So what? I like being around you and I'm not going to stop just because you tell me to. That's ridiculous and you know it!" She uncrosses her arms and pushes my left shoulder with her right hand, giggling while she does.

I return her smile, happy for the true friend that I do have.

"Maverick—you're really pale," Tamsin's words drift off, her eyes scanning my face. I know it's starting to reflect just how starved I am, surprised that I had been able to subside my anger in front of Zak and Rainier.

"I know..." I nod, wondering when I will be able to feed again...if my father will force me to wait until I'm Orion's problem.

"Well, have my blood," Tamsin smiles, taking her left hand and pulling the side of her hoodie away from her neck, exposing it to me. I've never fed from another coven member's neck before, my grandfather has said it wasn't something that should be done until I'm older. I've never understood why and have seen others doing it and now Tamsin is offering herself to me.

I don't see why it's a bad thing.

What's the difference between the wrist and the neck?

I push the thoughts away, reaching my hand out and cradling Tamsin's neck gently while she pushes her dirty blonde hair out of the way, tilting her head up and back. My lips touch her neck, smelling the blood flowing through her veins only stirs my natural instincts, a shudder passing through her small body when the tips of my fangs brush her delicate, warm skin.

Tamsin releases a small sigh, my fangs piercing past her flesh and tasting her sweet blood, letting it fill my mouth and quench the parched feeling that had taken up residence in the back of it. Steadying herself, her small hands take hold of my shoulders, my tongue greedily devouring her blood.

"Tamsin!"

"Maverick!"

Our names are yelled out in unison by different people, one of them being my grandfather and the other being Killian. Startled, I retract my fangs from her neck, letting her go and suddenly turning to face the two vampires that tower before us. I feel a slight fright fill my body, the way Killian glares at me and then at his daughter.

"Come here, Tamsin," Killian is stern, motioning for his daughter to follow him. Her breathing is short, her heart drumming loudly in her chest, beating hard against it. Looking from me, then to my grandfather, and then back to her father, she starts to move toward him.

Tamsin whispers back to me, "I-I'm sorry Maverick..."

I watch as Killian takes his daughter into the mansion, closing the door behind them, leaving me with my grandfather. He looks angry for a moment, but then his features soften, asking, "Why were you feeding on Tamsin?"

"Well...I can't necessarily bite a human so..." I'm evading the question, my eyes darting away from him.

"Come with me, Mav," my grandfather walks away from the mansion, his steps leading toward a tall climbing tree that my friends and I like to try and climb as quickly as we can. I trail behind him, kicking the grass with my shoes until he stops at the base of the tree, turning around and quickly picking me up. He turns around and places me on a branch so I'm sitting at his eye level, his icy blue eyes locked onto mine.

"I know, it's hard being a vampire and on top of that, you are a pureblood," my grandfather speaks gently, "you can't just go and feed when you want to on anyone, a coven member has to willingly let you and I'm glad Tamsin and you are close enough, but you can't just feed on her neck."

Sitting on the tree branch, I pick at the ends of my sleeves, glancing away from him before asking, "Why though? You and grandma do it...mom and dad...other coven members..."

"I'm not just going to shrug it off like your father and say, 'because I said so,'" my grandfather sighs, my eyes looking away from the back of the mansion and staring into his as he explains, "it's an intimate act, Mav, that is shared between vampires who are either beloveds or care deeply about each other."

I furrow my brows saying, "I care about Tamsin."

"Not in the way I am trying to explain, grandson," my grandfather shakes his head and tries to explain it another way, "you'd be upset if you ever saw me drinking from another besides your grandmother, correct? Or the same with your mother and father?"

I pause, thinking about my grandfather or father being so close to another vampire that wasn't mom or grandma, and it does make me upset in a way I can't explain.

I nod my head.

"How do you feel about feeding on someone else besides Tamsin?" My grandfather asks.

"I guess it would be okay..." I can see what he's getting at vaguely.

My grandfather chuckles and states, "Then you shouldn't be doing that. Taking blood from the neck is something reserved for another you really cherish, and that you couldn't possibly live without."

I smile, saying, "Thank you." It's nice to be talked with, not at and my grandfather is very good at explaining things to me, much nicer than my father would have.

"Locaine," the snap in my father's voice causes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, my grandfather moving away from the tree branch as he steps sideways. My father stands just outside of the back door, Orion's dark hair is pushed back and away, his white irises watching us.

I hold my breath, watching my father as he orders, "Maverick leaves—tonight."

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The Rogue Pureblood Vampire by K. A. Young.

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